litotes


Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
litotes /lʌɪˈtəʊtiːz/
noun ironical understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its opposite (e.g. I shan't be sorry for I shall be glad).
– origin C16: via late L. from Gk litotēs, from litos ‘plain, meagre’.
'litotes' also found in these Oxford entries:

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